Halloween 2005
Today is November 1. Yesterday was of course Halloween. Or in my life, Crazy Day. I have two little kids, one who is way to young to know what Halloween is about, the other who is old enough to understand and definitely into the costume part. The strange thing is Emily, the 3 and a half year old, is not really that into candy. She loves lollipops but otherwise could take or leave candy. She likes chips and cookies, like all kids, but that is about it.
So the day started out fine. They had a parade and a little show at her school, so I took some time off in the morning and went. All the kids paraded around in their costumes and then they did a little show inside on a stage. And then at 10 in the morning kids and parents got to eat cookies and cupcakes and general sugary crap. So that got the kids hopped up on sugar and bouncing off the walls. And oh, we took Ethan too. For the morning Emily was dressed as a Care Bear.
Last year I took Emily around to the houses with the other fathers while Patti stayed home and handed out ransom, I mean treats, to the local kids who come begging for free food. So this year we switched it and Patti went with the moms to hand out candy. My friend Mark came over while the kids were out to keep me company and when he walked up he was carrying a six pack of beer. I asked him what house was giving out beer.
For the evening, Emily was dressed as Cinderella. Ethan was in a really cute little bear outfit. It might have been a Care Bear outfit for all I know, but it had a big hood and the way he wobbles he actually looked like a bear standing on two legs. So off went Patti with a pack of other moms and kids. Mark and I had about 5 minutes to catch up when Patti called and asked if I could come up the street and grab Ethan. It was too much trying to watch Emily in the dark and corral Ethan. Mark and his wife have an 18 month old as well as a three year old and were having the same issue. So Mark and I went up and got the younger kids.
The next 45 minutes or so were pretty fun. I had a little play group that included beer and we got to hand out candy. I decided to give two pieces to each kid as protection money. I have since learned other houses were handing out three pieces. Damn it. The two little kids Mark and I were watching would waddle up to the door every time kids rang the bell because they were fascinated by the costumes. It was pretty cute. Emily came back once to empty her bag of stuff and headed back out for some more. In all, she was out going door to door for about an hour and a half.
Like last year, when the parents and kids came back we hung out at the house while the kids went wild. We told Emily she could have any one single piece of candy she wanted and she chose a lollipop. Out of all the good stuff that is what she wanted. Strange.
Overall, it was another fun Halloween. I thought that with having kids this holiday would be a ton of fun like Christmas, but it’s not. I don’t mean to be grumpy but other than seeing kids dressed up, it’s kind of a pain. You have to constantly watch the little kids so they don’t fall down steps walking up to each house, you have to make small talk with neighbors you rarely see, and you have to control a child’s natural urge to eat bags and bags of candy. Add to this the frustration you feel when older kids, without costumes (but not as bad as Brian (formally) of Watertown’s example of a teenager smoking a cigarette) try to grab a handful of candy when you lower the container. This really bugs me because younger kids are polite, and usually take one unless you tell them to take more, and then thank you. I think this is because their parents are standing a few feet away. But the older kids act like animals on a prairie trying to rip apart a fallen zebra. I even had one dad with his own bag of candy when he was with kids. And now that I think about it, I am not sure they were his own kids. He might have just tagged along. Which really bugs me because now it’s not “like” begging, it IS begging. A grown man going door to door with a bag out looking for freakin candy. What a loser. But I digress.
Another thing I like is the decoration on houses. People in our neighborhood really go all out. It’s fun. And overall little kids like Halloween, and since I get joy out of a child’s laughter, I get joy out of this simple holiday. Except that grown jerk who actually picked through my bowl of candy looking for good stuff. I would get joy out of kicking his a**.
Happy Halloween.